Sweet Dreams Boxed Set (31 page)

Bennett crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you didn’t tell me everything at the station.”

She was looking down at her hands. There was no blood on them. She’d scrubbed them, again and again, while he watched her at the station. 

“Ivy.”

Her head lifted. “I told you all that I remembered about the guy’s description.”

That part he believed. “Did you tell me everything he said?” He knew his witnesses—and his victims. He could tell when they were holding back, and every instinct he possessed screamed that Ivy was keeping secrets.

She wet her lips.  “He was just trying to scare me.” She laughed then, a bitter sound that wasn’t at all what he’d associate with Ivy. “I’m a PI. I’m not supposed to be scared, I’m not—”

“Everyone gets scared sometimes.”

Her gaze held his. “Even you, Bennett?”

He nodded and for just an instant, his last case with the Bureau flashed before his eyes.  Pain. Blood. Hell.

No escape.

He’d stared at death and he’d seen…

Ivy.

“Bennett?”

“If you’re human, you get scared,” he told her flatly. “That’s normal. No matter who the hell you are.”

Her breath expelled in a fast rush. “I really need that shower.” A thread of desperation laced through her words. “I can feel the blood and…
him.
”

Bennett couldn’t wait to catch that bastard and throw him in a cell. “He’s not going to hurt you,” he said as he took a step closer to Ivy.

She gave a quick nod. “I’ll show you out. I—”

“I’ll wait until you’re done with that shower. Then you
are
going to tell me everything.” This time, there would be no secrets between them.  It was the secrets that had destroyed them before.

Bennett wasn’t about to repeat the mistakes from his past.

***

Ivy scrubbed her skin until it ached.  She scrubbed and scrubbed, but she could have sworn the blood was still on her.

And that I can still feel his touch.

But the water in the shower turned icy, and she knew she had to leave and face Bennett again.  She dressed quickly, tossing on some old sweats and a very faded college sweatshirt.  Her wet hair slid around her face, curling slightly, and she padded, barefoot, down her stairs.

Bennett was waiting in what her grandfather would have called the parlor.  A fancy word that had always made her smile when she was younger, even though she just thought of that place as a den now. 

Bennett turned when she approached, surprising her because Ivy had thought that she’d been moving pretty silently. His gaze swept from the top of her wet head down to her toes—toes that were currently painted with a bright blue polish. His lips curled, just a bit when he gazed at her toes. 

His smile made her remember the past—their past.  Did he know that she’d loved him back then? Probably not. She hadn’t told him. Sometimes she’d wondered…if he’d known how she felt, would that have changed anything?

The silence was stretching between them, and a heavy tension coiled in the air.  Ivy cleared her throat and hurried past him. She sat down on her overstuffed couch and tucked her legs under her. “The killer said that he saw me.  That I saw him, and he saw me.”

Bennett strode toward her. He didn’t sit, just stood there, towering over her. Making her feel too nervous and aware of him.

“You told me that part at the station,” he said.

Yes, she had. 

“You told me…” Bennett’s voice was a deep rumble. “That he knew your name. That he said he knew your brother. When you first found the councilman, you thought that
was
Hugh’s body.”

“Yes.”  When would the memory of that terror end?  But beneath the fear, anger simmered. That man—that bastard in the dark—he’d
wanted
her to think that Hugh was hurt or dead. He’d been playing with her, tormenting her.

And I think the torment is just beginning.

Her hands rose and she touched her throat.  “I don’t think he expected me to fight back.”  Had he thought she’d be too afraid? No, not happening. Her grandfather had taught her better than that.
Never let fear control you. Use it, Ivy. Use it and let it make you stronger.
His words whispered through her head. 

“He told me I would be fun,” she glanced at Bennett. As she said those words, his jaw hardened. “He told me,” Ivy continued, “that he could be ‘good’ to me.”

Bennett swore.

“Or that he could be ‘bad’.” Ivy paused a moment, considering that. “I’ll just assume the ‘bad’ is when he takes out his knife and starts carving into people.”

Bennett started pacing. “This isn’t a damn game, Ivy!”

“I know. I told him the same thing.”

He whirled to face her.

“I think I’m his next target.”

His eyes changed then. So did his face. All emotion just bled away. 

“He said…”
Finish it.
She just hadn’t been able to reveal all of this down at the station, not with all those eyes on her. Strangers. Staring, judging?  “He told me that he was going to give me…um, everything I wanted. That he’d learn my secrets. My d-desires.”

Bennett stalked toward her. Her head tipped back as she looked up at him.

“The hell he will.”  Then he bent over her. His hand curled around her chin, as his face came intimately close to her.  “This isn’t happening to you.”

Her breath seemed to burn her lungs.  “What aren’t you telling me?”

His green eyes glittered.

“Bennett…”

“He attacked two people within a twenty-four hour period, Ivy.  What does that
tell
you?”

“He’s dangerous.” Serious understatement. “I thought…with the woman…maybe it was a crime of passion.” A love that had ended in horror. “And the councilman, in the dark, in that tunnel, maybe—”

“This guy is very good at killing.  Too good.
No one
reported seeing a man leave either scene with blood on his clothes.” He released her chin, but didn’t move back. “That means the guy knows how to use his weapon. He understands exactly how to sink a knife into his victim’s skin so that the blood spatter doesn’t so much as touch him.”

She swallowed.  “You…you think he’s done this before.”

“Hell, yes, I do. Because a killer doesn’t show this much confidence on a new attack. A new hunter wouldn’t come to you, he wouldn’t make threats, and he wouldn’t
target
you that way.” He shook his head. “It’s all wrong.  If that woman had been his first kill, he would panic, thinking the police were involved.  He wouldn’t seek you out and tell you what he had planned next. That’s a cocky move. Deliberate.” He hesitated, then said, “Taunting.”

She stood and he moved back, just a bit.  His gaze was so intense. She couldn’t look away. “You’re telling me—what? That you think this guy is some kind of-of serial killer or something?”

“I don’t know
what
kind of killer he is, not yet. All I know is that he’s dangerous, and every single sign is pointing to him being focused on you.”

The last twenty-four hours of her life hadn’t been such winners. “I wanted to find him at that ball. I wanted to stop him.”

“We are going to stop him,” Bennett said. “Count on it.”

They were so close. Adrenaline still spiked her blood. She’d been afraid. She’d been furious. And now…

“This isn’t a case where you’re just trying to uncover some rich businessman’s secret affairs, Ivy. This isn’t about finding out who stole an antique watch or tracking down a runaway teenager through your PI office…”

Her chin notched up. “If you’re saying—”

“I’m saying, yes, I know you handle plenty of PI cases, but this is different. This is life and death, and I am
not
going to stand by while you get hurt.”

No standing by
. She got that. Her hands rose and pressed to his chest. She felt him stiffen beneath her touch.

“Ivy…”

“I don’t want you to stand by.” She didn’t intend to just play the role of the victim, either. “We’re going to be partners.”

“The hell we are!”

“We
are
going to be partners,” she said again.  “Because if he is hunting me, then I want you at my side.” 

His gaze searched hers.  “You always think you can control everyone around you.”

No, she didn’t think that.

“Men jump to do your bidding, and you just take that shit for granted.”

“I don’t remember you ever jumping.” Quite the opposite. She remembered him leaving.

“Things aren’t going to keep working that way.  I’m not going to risk you.”

I’m not yours to risk.
She didn’t say those words, not yet. But they still seemed to hang in the air between them.  He didn’t understand her. Maybe he never had.  Did he think she was just playing at the PI business? No, things were different now. Everything was different.

The fact that she was intimately involved in this murder just made her all the more determined to act—and to prove herself.

Chasing cheating husbands, my ass.

“Thanks for seeing me home,
Detective,”
she pulled away from him and marched back to the foyer. “I’m quite safe now. So you’ve done your due diligence.”

His steps were slower as he followed her. “I can stay, if you want.”

She looked back at him.  “You think he’s going to come for me again, this soon?”

“I didn’t think he’d drive his knife into the councilman’s chest, but he did.”

Her shoulders straightened. “I’ll be fine.” She kept a gun under her bed. And that night, she’d be making sure it was loaded. 

A furrow appeared between Bennett’s brows.

“Goodbye, Bennett,” she told him firmly. 

He didn’t move. “I want to stay.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s…hell, it’s important, Ivy. I need to know you’re safe.”  His hands were clenched at his sides. “Until I get a better handle on this case, until I can figure out what the fuck is going on…I need this. I need to be close to you.”

He had no idea how much his words hurt.  Because those were words she’d wished to hear long ago.  Not the whole “what the fuck is going on” part but…

I need to be close to you.

“You can stay upstairs. There’s a guest room down the hallway that you can use.”  Her voice was grudging and she sighed. “Of course, you know my neighbors will see your car. Everyone will say we’re sleeping together.”
Again. 

He stared at her. “I thought you never cared what people said.”

“I don’t.”  She turned and headed for the stairs. “Just thought you should know…”

He snagged her hand. “Are we going to talk about it?”

She looked at his hand. So much tanner than her own. So much bigger. Stronger.  “You mean the kiss?”  She gave a faint laugh. “It was so fast, I hardly think that—”

“Actually, I meant our past, but, yeah, if you want to talk about the kiss, let’s do it.”

Crap.  She’d walked straight into that one.

“Want to know why I kissed you?”

Get out of here. Right now.
That warning was flashing in her head and she kept a faint smile on her face as she looked up at him. “I already know why.”

“You do?”

“Because you still want me.” 

His eyes narrowed.

“Want to know why I kissed you back?” Ivy asked him as she pulled away and then headed up the stairs.

“Why.” A demand, not a question.

She stilled on the fifth step. Her hand tightened around the banister. “Because I never
stopped
wanting you.” 

“Ivy…”

She kept going up the stairs. “Enjoy the guest room.” Because she might want him, she might need him, but she wasn’t crossing that line. Not yet.

Not when I’m already close to breaking apart on the inside. 

He didn’t understand just what her life had become. She wasn’t about playing things safe. Being the
good
DuLane, not anymore.

And she wasn’t ready to share her dark secrets with him, not yet. 

***

“I see you,” he whispered as he stared up at the house.  Ivy was in that house. Ivy and the detective.

Were they lovers? Screwing on the stairs? On the floor? In Ivy’s bed?

That wouldn’t do.
He’d
picked her.  She was his now, for as long as he wanted.

And he kept his prey until the last breath.

The detective would require some research, just as Ivy would.  He liked to study his prey. Learn their strengths and weaknesses.

The councilman—he’d been different.
The fool got in my way.
But it was for the best.  He couldn’t afford any loose ends. Too much was at stake.

He’d learned that Laxton hadn’t made it to the hospital alive, despite Ivy’s valiant efforts.

How would she react to that news? Would lovely Ivy blame herself? Would she cry?

He isn’t worth your tears. Save them all for me. 

He turned away from Ivy’s house. He wouldn’t be visiting her, not yet. There was more to learn first. More arrangements to make.

Soon enough, Ivy would have her turn. 

I’ll learn those secrets, and those desires.
In the end, she would beg for him.

His prey always did. 

Chapter Five

Ivy didn’t usually hang out in morgues.  They were creepy, seriously creepy.  They smelled bad. They were cold. And they made her stomach knot.

“Are you okay?”

Ivy sucked in a quick breath and tried really hard not to gag. She so did not have this calm, in-command attitude down. Bennett ruled that kind of attitude. Damn him. 

“Ivy, you look like you’re about to faint,” the ME said.  He was an older guy, balding, with warm coffee skin and sympathetic brown eyes.

Beside him, Bennett grunted. He was
not
so sympathetic. “She shouldn’t even be here. She can wait in the hallway and—”

“Thanks for letting me come in, Dr. Battiste,” Ivy said quickly. “I appreciate it.”

Bennett had looked way less-than-thrilled when she’d trailed him to the morgue. His expression had darkened even more when it became obvious that she and Harvey Battiste knew each other. She’d actually known Harvey since she was about three, when she’d been sneaking off with Harvey and her grandfather on their fishing trips.